Newshub National correspondent Patrick Gower says children will die if the police pursuit policy is changed.
It comes after Police Commissioner Andrew Coster revealed police are reviewing the policy in response to a spike in ram raid robberies in Auckland.
Dozens of businesses have been hit in the past months with many of the offenders being teenagers or children.
Coster told AM on Tuesday while the policy is under review any changes will be tweaks, not a complete overhaul.
In 2020, the police pursuit policy was changed in the wake of 63 pursuits-related deaths within just 10 years.
Under the new policy police only chase a fleeing driver if there is a threat before the pursuit starts and if there is a need for the person to be caught immediately.
Speaking with AM later in the morning, Gower said changing the rules would result in children dying.
"I am actually against the changing of the police pursuits policy. I think if they use that to try and save the ram raid problems out in Auckland it will mean one thing - kids will die. Kids will die if they change that policy," he said.
"Sixty-three people died in the years leading up to the policy change, none have died since. If they use it against the ram raids kids will die. I can tell you the story now, it will be four kids in a car wrapped around a traffic island or pole or something like that out in east Auckland and it will be a disaster."
It's a sentiment Coster seems to share. He told AM's Ryan Bridge earlier in the show police must weigh up the risks when considering whether to change the policy.
"No one has died in a police pursuit since we changed the policy. But obviously, there is a balance," he said.
"The question is for what offence would we be prepared to put the public at risk by engaging in a pursuit.
"We are looking at fine-tuning it [pursuit policy] but it will be in the nature of fine-tuning if there is any change. The fundamental position lines up with what other jurisdictions are doing and looks like international best practice."
He said the review was his decision and not dictated by the Government. He also said he has no regrets about changing the policy in 2020.
"I have no regrets about saving the lives that we have saved. It's clearly a massive responsibility to work out where the balance sits and we have to get it right. The reality is if we change the policy to pursue in certain circumstances then we do increase the risk and inevitably there will be consequences."
Coster said the young people are still being held to account even without pursuits.
"We've laid literally hundreds of charges for young people involved in these ram raids. That in and of itself isn't going to solve the problem.
"It's an important thing to do but clearly, you're not going to send a bunch of under 15-year-olds to prison so where are the other solutions coming out of the community, coming out of understanding why these kids aren't well engaged.
"We can arrest them as much as you like but in the end, if they're back out and into the same environment where they did that in the first place - then that's where the problem sits."
